Upload
streetart1
View
223
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/8/2019 Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/peeking-behind-the-veil-princess-hijab 1/4
Interviews
Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijabby Janelle Grace on August 6, 2010
(via twentysixletters.de)
I sit down with my laptop in a quiet, central Brooklyn café, not far from
Prospect Park on a slightly overcast day in August to interview the
mysterious Parisian street artist Princess Hijab. I order a San Pellegrino
with lime; she abstains from any snacks or beverages. Despite the time
difference from France, she’s alert and ready to engage with me. I go
into the interview knowing how she guards her anonymity, and the
concrete details of her identity remain elusive – this is an email interview
after all.
I start off by asking her about her inspirations. Her work brings to mind a
more cryptic sort of Adbuster culture jamming: cloaking, not necessarily
entirely, the bodies or faces of advertising’s scantily clad models in
dripping black hijabs, female and male alike. She responds, “I sort of
have a sealed vocabulary at this point, and expanding it takes a lot of
energy. Mostly I’m inspired by contradiction. My other inspiration is the
frenetic Parisian night … [T]he lit advertisements are everywhere, and
they’re relentlessly penetrating.” The parallel between the cover of nightand the cover of the hijab is an evocative one: both are oft romanticized
8/8/2019 Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/peeking-behind-the-veil-princess-hijab 2/4
as possibly hiding sinister secrets and activities, a drape over unknown
fetishes. Princess Hijab references this herself when I ask what she finds
the source of the veil’s power as an image or garment: “The veil is a
thing of secrets and the hidden, of neo black. And of course it’s imbued
with a lot of racial, geographic, sexual, and gender-based meaning.”
A recent work by Princess Hijab (photo by Julie Caudan, via rebelart.net)
Princess Hijab is very aware of the many varied connotations of the veil,
and perhaps the multiplicity of identities and opinions related to it is
what keeps her from aligning to any one group or explicit political
message. Throughout her career, which visibly began in 2006, she’s
been accused of being a conservative right-winger policing advertising’s
overt sexuality, as well as a proponent of religious extremism, although
she does not claim identity as a Muslim (or much else for that matter). I
ask if she claims solidarity with any group, or if she even finds thosequestions important. Her position as a street artist, where the
clandestine is routine, seems relevant when she replies, “People have
the right to ask questions about my identity. But I’m anonymous; the
answers just aren’t a part of my art….I’ve got plenty of love for
individuals, but I don’t attach myself to any group; they tend to bore me
rather than comfort me. I’m not an advocate for any dogma. I like those
who are on the margins of any group though, as they’re likely to be theones thinking for themselves.”
8/8/2019 Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/peeking-behind-the-veil-princess-hijab 3/4
Princess Hijab's work is particularly prescient in light of France's recent ban of the
full -face niqab, after years of controversy over the veils.
That also explains Princess Hijab’s artistic influences, as she says she’s
“primarily into ‘amateurisme’ and outsider art. I don’t usually like art to
which I’m forcedly exposed in museums. The exception would be David
Altmejd. I love how his work is shattered but strong, a real kick to the
gut.” She says she works in guerilla street art interventions and netart to
“allow people to come across things when they’re ‘just browsing,’ so
they can be completely unprepared for it.” These mediums certainly
lend themselves to more personal, individualized experiences, which is
8/8/2019 Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/peeking-behind-the-veil-princess-hijab 4/4
a part of her ultimate goal. She wants to “close that distance,” between
advertising and individuals, particularly in regards to body image, further
saying that “[a]dvertising is something which, when it’s well done, stabs
directly into the personal, so it’s a little strange that we’re also so used
to it.”
Although I do believe her work is often misinterpreted as solely working
to hide bodies, and is perhaps challenging ubiquitous conventional body
imagery instead, whatever her explicit agenda is doesn’t seem to be the
point. She’s much more interested in ambiguity as a tool, which “allows
the questions and content of my work to form to the viewer. And I think
a society which asks questions is a healthy society.” Ultimately,Princess Hijab’s work is more about the society that breeds the culture
of the hijab and its mythology than the hijab itself.